Magdalena Lewy Boulet a 2008 U.S. Olympian in the marathon, will compete in the ING New York City Marathon on Sunday. She was second at the U.S. Women's Olympic Marathon Trials, where she set a personal best of 2:30:19 and led much of the before being passed by eventual winner Deena Kastor. In the Beijing Olympics, a freakish knee injury (which she explains below) forced her out of the marathon at the 15K mark. Lewy Boulet was fifth in the 2004 U.S. Women's Olympic Marathon Trials in 2:30:50. She qualified for the 2008 Trials with a 2:42:38 in New York City in November 2006. She also competed in the 10,000 at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials in Eugene, placing sixth in 32:45.06. Lewy Boulet was fourth in the 2008 New York Mini 10K with a 32:28.4, won the Emerald Across The Bay 12K in California in 41:0, and set a personal track 10,000-meter best of 32:33.02 at Stanford University in April. Now 32, she lives in Oakland, California, with her husband, the former standout miler Richie Boulet, and their son Owen, born in May 2005. Earlier in her career, Lewy Boulet was second in the 2001 California International Marathon in Sacramento in 2:37:52, won the 2002 Pittsburgh Marathon in 2:36:48, and was second in Pittsburgh in 2003 in 2:31:38. She attended the University of California-Berkeley and was third in the 5000 at the 1997 NCAA Championships. A former swimmer, she was born in Poland and became a U.S. citizen at a ceremony in San Francisco on September 11. 2001—a ceremony that was curtailed by the cataclysmic events of that day. She is now a full-time assistant coach at Cal-Berkeley. Lewy Boulet spoke to reporters in New York on Wednesday.

Can you explain what happened to your knee in Beijing? You banged it on a metal part of a bus, is that it?Magdalena Lewy Boulet: I was getting up and I hit this metal part of the seat and it went straight into my patella. It was about a week and a half before the race (Olympic marathon). It was basically a contusion. They did an MRI. Fluid built up in it and I had no range of motion. I was running with a stiff leg. I could not bend my knee until the swelling came down.

On the day itself, did you have hopes that you would somehow make it through?MLB: Of course. I never for a second thought that I would drop out of the race. It didn't even cross on my mind. What I was hoping for was that I would just get going and it would just warm up and it would go.

How did you feel warming up?MLB: It was tough, because we had to keep going in circles (in the warm-up area), and that kind of aggravated it as well. But, you know, it's the Olympics. You don't let the little things get into you. I was hoping for the best, once the gun goes off.

Emotionally, what was the feeling like when you did have to drop out?MLB: It was devastating, very devastating. I was nothing like how I dreamed my Olympic race would go. It was a very tough emotional battle for the next 20 minutes before the bus picked me up. Stopping was the worst thing because I couldn't get going—I thought maybe I could take a few seconds and then get back into it. It was an emotional struggle.

You mentioned taking two weeks off from running at that point. But did you make a fairly early decision that you would come here to the New York City Marathon?MLB: Yes, I did. As soon as I had no pain in my knee, and I was able to get back into training, I had my heart set on New York.

And you'll coaching at Cal (the University of California-Berkeley)?MLB: Yes. This is my second year full-time. I volunteered on and off since I graduated, for eight years.

But you're missing the Pac-10 Championships! (They're on Friday in Oregon)MLB: (She lowers her head in mock shame). Yes, I am. Friday is going to be a really rough day for me. Emotionally, my heart's going to be in Oregon with the Cal Bears. I'm going to be glued to my cell phone for a short time.

In the Olympic Trials, why did you go out so fast?MLB: I did not go out fast. I went very smart. I went according to what I trained—if anything, a little more conservative. If you look at the splits, I went very even the first and second half. I didn't do anything crazy. I just ran my own race.

It must have surprised you that it took so long for the others to rise to your challenge.MLB: I wasn't really looking at facial reactions. I was more at first looking to sense how much time I had on them. Then I was looking more at body language and how everyone was feeling. I thought they knew who I was, but up front, maybe in the beginning, they didn't.

Where you scared that maybe you were out too fast?MLB: No, I was not scared that it was too fast. I just knew that Deena (Kastor) had the capability of dropping a pretty fast second half. Once I learned that I had over two minutes of lead, I wanted to win. That was what I had my heart set on after halfway. I said "well, if I can keep this up, I'm definitely taking the win home." I was not scared. I just didn't want to lose first place.

How old were you when you left Poland?MLB: I was 15, and I lived in Germany for three years (in Kiel, near Hamburg).

What do you remember of it?MLB: I have a lot of memories. From childhood, I remember standing in line for bread before school started. I even remember tanks driving on the street in the middle of the day or the morning. A lot of people don't even know what they look like or what they are, but I remember that as a child. Random memories—walking to school for about a mile ... My parents made a conscious decision to leave Poland so they could give their kids a better opportunity and a better life.

When Katrin Dorre, formerly of East Germany, was here some years ago, she said it took her awhile to become accustomed to the freedoms she suddenly had, about being allowed to make her own decisions. You were younger, but was it tough for you to adjust to the fact that you could now do more of what you wanted and have more responsibility for yourself?MLB: Even when I was 15, I didn't really experience what my parents had experienced, not having the freedom to make decisions and so no. For me, it was more when I came here that I never took anything for granted, that I really appreciated everything I had. I knew my parents never got a chance to have the freedom to do anything they wanted. Even to this day, I see that jumping at opportunities is something that my parents are more hesitant to do. I'm so fortunate that I can really do whatever I set my heart to doing. I just need to work hard and go after it.

Starting the cycle of training for this marathon, after already being fit for Beijing, was a different situation. Was there a real need to avoid overdoing it?MLB: To be honest with you, the emotional recovery was probably longer than physical. Once my knee was okay to start running on, emotionally, I had to recover. But since I'd been running on a stiff leg, there was a lot of overcompensation on my other side. I just had to be careful because I knew that I was still overcompensating and not putting all the weight on my knee. I ran very unbalanced for another month or so. I had to be very careful not to overdo it.

For a variety of reasons, some having to do with weather, it's been a long time since an American woman has run a marathon under 2:30. Were you quite convinced that after the trials, you were fit enough to run that fast?MLB: Oh definitely. My training indicated that I could have run 2:28 at the Trials, if the race went out a little bit differently and I could have run with a group of women. I had a goal of running 2:28. I should have done that that day. But that wasn't really the objective. The objective was to make the (Olympic) team.

What can you run here on Sunday?MLB: I'm going for sub-2:30. I'm in similar shape.

What place does that get you? Does that get you on podium (top three)?MLB: Umm ... no. But you never know. It's a marathon. If you look at the history, the answer is no.

Well, you never know. One of those days, when Paula (Radcliffe) hammers from the beginning, she's going to knock everybody off.MLB: Correct.

Your citizenship hearing was on September 11 (2001) in San Francisco. It was over in five minutes. Did you know why? Did you hear the news on the radio?MLB: At the time, we knew something serious was happening. You put two and two together. I kind of felt sad I never got to go through the whole ceremony because I know it's a very special moment. All in all, when I think back, it's even more special that it happened on that day.